Savory Sweet Salmon For The Holidays

Of all the types of gifts you can give during the holidays, the ones you make yourself are often the most appreciated. If you’ve got a freezer or refrigerator full of salmon, here’s a great way to put it to good use, save you money, and bring big smiles, and “Boy! That was great!” reactions from your friends and family.

Smoked Nuts

Here's a great gift you can make and give that will bring good eating and snacking during the holidays! Smoke up some nuts!

Choose RAW almonds, pecans, cashews, Brazil nuts, pumpkin or sunflower seeds.

If you prefer, you can blanch them, then allow to air dry. toss the nuts in a bowl with a light coating of olive oil-NOT vegetable oil and a little sea salt or you can substitute garlic or celery salt if you wish.

For sweet nuts, toss in oil, then toss in a mixture of sugar crystals, or honey, and a little cinnamon to taste, and then toss the nuts in this mixture and layout on a wire rack. To cool.

Spread the nuts out in a single layer on a wire baking rack, and place into your smoker. You want to both toast and smoke the nuts, so your smoking chamber temperature should be between 180-220 degrees F.  Most nuts will be adequitley smoked within 30-60 minutes. You may want to experiment to determine the optimal level of smoke flavor in your nuts.

Use hickory, alder, apple, oak or pecan for your smoking woods. You can mix them up if you want.

Once the nuts are smoked, Allow them to cool down, then put into an air tight container or re-sealable bag, and wrap in festive celephane or paper. How easy is that!

Mr BBQ's Bourbon-Cider Turkey Brine

Why do the same-oh, same-oh brine for your turkey? This year, switch it up some and try this delicious brine for extra flavor and juiciness to your turkey. This recipe is for up to a 22-pound turkey

Mr BBQ's Rum/Raisin BBQ Sauce

This is one of those recipes that vindicates my cooking prowess. I came up with the idea for this sauce years ago. My wife Sandi wasn't too hot on the concept of turning raisins into a barbecue sauce. At the end of the cooking session, she had to admit, it was pretty darn good after all. Use this sauce on pork, chicken or white fish.